Lepakshi Temple

Getting there

• By air

  The closest airport is in Bengaluru.

• By train

  Hindupur railway station is the nearest, 14 km away.

• By road

  Lepakshi is 140 km from Bengaluru. A branch road of about 12 km from NH7, at the Karnataka-Andhra border, leads to Lepakshi.

Why devotees come here

Veerabhadra Temple stands on the southern side of Lepakshi town in Sri Sathya Sai district, Andhra Pradesh. It is renowned as one of the 108 Shiva temples of India. Carvings and paintings cover almost every exposed surface, and one of its pillars seems to hang because it does not rest on the ground.

The temple is dedicated to Veerabhadra, a fierce form of Shiva. Puranic legends attribute the temple to the sage Agastya. The Skanda Purana counts it among the divyakshetras, the pilgrimage sites of Shiva. Legend adds that he lived in a cave chamber in the sanctum when he installed the linga here. The temple is built on a granite hillock shaped like a tortoise.

Virupanna and Viranna, two brothers who were courtiers under the Vijayanagar Empire, are said to have built it in 1530 AD, while serving the court at Penukonda during the reign of King Achyuta Deva Raya. A Tulu Vamsa inscription from 1533 AD was commissioned by the emperor Achyutaraya Devarayulu, who had helped build the temple. Some sources give 1540 AD instead, so no single build year is certain.

The architecture follows the Vijayanagara style. A large Nandi, carved from one block of stone, stands away from the temple. The ceiling fresco in the ante chamber, the ardha mantapa, is said to be the largest in Asia, measuring 23 by 13 feet.

Festivals

• Dates not givenLepakshi Utsavam

  Festival celebrations are counted as the best time to visit the temple.

Tips for your visit

• Plan the visit around the festivals, especially the Lepakshi Utsavam.
• Look up at the ceiling of the ante chamber, the ardha mantapa, where the fresco is.

Questions people ask